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The process of creating refined liquid combustion fuel is as follows:
Step one: take the unrefined oil and pour it into a container made of a metal with a high melting point
Step two: heat the container to six hundred degrees Celsius
Step three: vent the oil vapor into a fractional distillation column
Step four: the vapor will condense onto the trays inside the column
Step five: about 40% of the resulting liquids will be refined fuel, whereas much of the rest can be further refined chemically
"Well, I'm not doing that. I don't even know what unrefined oil is!"
The truth was, most of the notes Muse had written on the blueprints made no sense. It seemed almost like it was intended for him and him alone to read. He was gone, though, so I couldn't ask him what it meant. Not that I'd want to, even if I could.
"Plus, I have no idea what a 'fractal dilution column' is anyway. I guess this design won't work after all."
Twilight was sitting in one of the reading chairs, looking over a book that, judging by the cover, was probably about magic. She looked up for a moment. "Well, you tried. I guess that infection or whatever it was really did make you crazy."
"Yeah..." I looked back at the blueprint. It was clear what was supposed to happen; the machine would basically light the fuel on fire, then use that energy to turn a metal rod, which could be attached to a number of things in order to automate their rotation. But, without the fuel, there was no point in making the machine.
I noticed a small side note written on the paper. Caution: both unrefined oil and refined fuel are highly flammable.
Why does everything have to be highly flammable when it comes to this stuff? I thought.
That was when I had an idea. Maybe, if I took another highly flammable substance, and made slight modifications to the engine, then it might be able to work without the refined fuel it was made to use. And I know just the thing to use.
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It was a good idea on paper, but when I actually went to redesign the engine I found it a lot more difficult than I thought to make it run on solid Arcanium. After all, the engine was designed to work with liquid fuel, not solid. Plus, the Arcanium would be too volatile and inconsistent in its combustion; it would basically blow the whole thing apart.
I sighed, setting my pen down. There has to be a way to make this work, but I just can't figure it out.
Maybe I should go for a walk. It's nice out today.
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The park was, as it always was, beautiful. The flowers were blooming, as always. The birds were singing, as always. The lone tree by the edge of the pond cast a shadow on the ground beneath it, as always. I walked over to the tree, sitting down underneath it. I could see why Twilight sat there so often; it had a great view of the pond, it was shaded from the heat of the sun, and the light was just about right for reading a book.
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. No new ideas came to me, but I was still glad I went. It was relaxing, sitting under the tree, breathing in and out, listening to the sounds of the park around me.I should do this more often.
A cool breeze blew through my mane. I could hear a bird chirping in the tree above me. I heard a fish jump out of the pond with a small splash, and land back in the water with another one. I heard two ponies, walking in silence through the park, their hooves making small clicking sounds as they connected with the hard cobblestone path. I heard a small animal of some kind, rustling the bushes nearby. I could hear my own heart, beating slowly to the rhythm of some unknown tune, heard by none other than itself.
I heard a voice.
Shadow...
It was calling me.
I opened my eyes to see who it was, but nopony was around. Looking up at the sky, I realized I must have already been there for about half an hour. I should head back.
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I woke up the next day, feeling surprisingly refreshed. Usually, I was sluggish and tired in the mornings. Maybe it was because I spent some time relaxing at the park. Maybe I should do that more often.
I decided to go back to what I was working on before. Maybe I just need to think about it differently.
So, the original design relied on combustion to move the pistons, generating kinetic energy. I was trying to make it work using Arcanium as a combustible fuel, but maybe that isn't the best method. The ultimate goal is to turn the crankshaft. This could be accomplished using pistons, which are themselves moved by ignition of fuel. But, perhaps, there was another way to move them.
Let's see, how many ways can something move? Well, gravity can move things, but that won't help much, since it always goes downwards. Ponies can move things, but that would defeat the purpose of the engine. Shockwaves could move things, but those couldn't be generated without using a flammable fuel source or a magical spell. Magic can move things, but...
Magic. That's it! I'll make an Arcanium construct, specifically designed to channel magical energy into a spiral, and that will turn the crankshaft!
I understood a lot about how Arcanium affected magical energy, thanks to that book by Starswirl. However, magic had a tendency to follow its own rules. I couldn't think of a way to get it into the construct in the first place, at least not without it being attached to a pony's head. Without a mind to control it, the Arcaniumcouldn't channel magic, and as such the machine would not work. I needed something that would not only channel magic, but attract it.
As far as I was aware, no such material existed.
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I decided to take another trip to the park. Everything was as it usually was; that is to say, beautiful. It was actually quite peaceful, despite being in the middle of one of the busiest cities in Equestria.
I went back to the tree by the pond, sitting underneath it again. I looked around. There aren't a lot of ponies here, as usual.
I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths.
I heard a bird's wings flap as it landed on the edge of its nest, carrying food for its babies. I heard a tiny insect, buzzing around somewhere nearby. I heard the rippling of the water from the movement of the fish. I heard a frog croak from on top of a lily pad just off the shore of the water. I heard the rustling of the tree's branches above me, swaying gently in the breeze.
I heard a voice.
Shadow... please...
It was calling to me.
Once again, I opened my eyes, and once again, there was nopony there.
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I returned home once again, sitting down at my drawing desk.
I need something that draws magic in. The rest of the construct can be pure Arcanium, but something needs to get the magic flowing, draw it in and funnel it down the construct. Flux-steel repels magic, so if I could create something that was the exact opposite of that, I would be set.
But how am I going to do that?
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I ultimately decided to write down all of my progress up to that point, and file it away for later review. If anything new came up, I would pull the file back out of the cabinet immediately.
I had personally requested the filing cabinet from Princess Celestia not long after I moved in. I figured it would help keep all of my blueprints and notes organized. It had four drawers. The top-most drawer was labeled 'Incomplete Blueprints.' The second label read 'Completed Blueprints.' The third, 'Information,' was intended for anything that provided important details not included in blueprints, for example the exact chemical formula for creating Arcanium. The last drawer, labeled 'notes,' was where I kept pretty much anything that didn't fit into the other categories. I put the folder inside of that one, making sure the label was visible when the drawer was opened. The label read 'automatic moving machine.'
I didn't have any incomplete blueprints to work on at the time, and I didn't have ideas for anything new. This happened semi-often, and when it did I usually asked Twilight if she had any ideas. However, Twilight was at magic school, so that wasn't an option. I considered reading a book, but none of the titles I saw as I glanced through the shelves caught my interest. Besides that, there wasn't much to do.
I decided to go for another walk, despite the fact that I had already done so that day.
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Something seemed off about the park that time around. It was one of those situations where everything looks and sounds normal, but something still makes you uneasy. I looked around, but nothing seemed even a little out of place. The only thing that was even slightly odd was that I was alone in the park. Even this wasn't out of the ordinary, considering how the park is empty most of the time.
I walked over to the tree by the pond, as I had done twice before. While its still waters were usually peaceful and sedative, at that particular moment their unrelenting stillness just added to the feeling of unease. I tried to close my eyes, take deep breaths, just as I had done before.
I didn't hear anything.
The last two times I had done this, I heard things louder than usual. I hadn't questioned it too much; perhaps it was because my eyes were closed, or perhaps the sound carried easily to that exact spot. But the third time, I heard nothing.
Nothing moved.
I saw... no, 'saw' isn't the best word to describe it. I had a feeling of sorts, that somehow conveyed a mental image, or rather three mental images.
The first one was of four glowing sparks, suspended in space, each a different color. Red, blue, yellow, green. After a moment, they gradually morphed into a triangular shape. The vision ended before the transformation was complete.
The second image/feeling/thing/whatever it was,was of a familiar-looking item, something I recognized as the magic-sensing device Starswirl described in the book that I used to create the horn.
The third was of the bushes across the small field from where I lay, with two pairs of eyes clearly visible in the bushes.
I heard a voice.
Shadow... please help...
It was calling to me.
I opened my eyes, looking at the spot shown in the third 'image.' Sure enough, something moved quickly away as soon as I looked at it. Somepony was watching me.
I thought about the other 'images.' The second one, Starswirl's magic-sensing device, reminded me of something I had been meaning to do since I first read the book.
The strange thing was, I actually hadn't thought of doing it at all, but at the same time I distinctly remembered putting the thought aside in order to focus on building the horn. I glanced down at my left hoof, but fortunately there was no sign of flux poisoning. Something strange was going on.
And I was going to find out what.
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Starswirl's magic-sensing device, or, as I called it, the 'magic detector,' was simple. It was essentially a tuning fork made out of Arcanium, with a separate rod of the same material to go with it. When the fork was struck with the rod, it would vibrate. If the sound had a lower frequency, it meant a lot of magic was present. If it was higher, that area had little magic. And, if in the presence of one of the so-called 'nodes,' it would refuse to vibrate.
It took about fifteen minutes to make. Although I didn't have the original book, I had written the design down in case I needed it for anything.
Turns out, I did need it for something.
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I entered the park for the third time that day. The sun was just beginning to dip towards the horizon, the sky in that direction beginning to turn into the orange color that was characteristic of the sunset. It wouldn't be long until Celestia lowered it all the way. Still, I had a theory to test, and it couldn't wait until morning.
Reaching the tree at the edge of the water, I pulled the magic detector from my bag. If I was right, then there would be several new questions to be answered, but I still wanted to know. I took the fork in one hoof, and the rod in the other, and struck them together.
It didn't even shake a little. There was a magical node, right there under the tree,
Well, that settles one thing. The strange occurrences could be a direct result of the magical node. Perhaps I had accidentally 'tapped into' the node when I had visited before, and that caused the strange visions. That could also explain the improved hearing.
But what about the ponies in the bush? Who were they? What were they doing? Were they watching me?
I decided to put those questions aside. I had more important ones to answer.
Somehow, I get the feeling that not even Starswirl knew everything there is to know about nodes. And, given my lack of things to do, it might just be worthwhile to investigate.
It was almost dark. I started on my way back.
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Twilight was back by the time I got there. She explained that the Princess had wanted to teach her a few new spells, and as such she was gone for the whole day. I mentally slapped myself for not realizing her absence. Which reminded me of something else.
"Where's Cadence?" I looked around the library, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Twilight shrugged. "She might have had something important come up. I mean, she is a princess, even if she doesn't have that many royal duties. She's bound to have some important things to do from time to time."
I knew she was probably right, but I still felt nervous. Perhaps it was the strange things that happened at the park that had put me on edge.
"Yeah. She'll probably be back tomorrow, I'm sure it's no big deal," I replied. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger was going on, and if I could just figure out what...
I heard a yawn come from somewhere off to the right. Next to Twilight's bed, there was a small crib, inside which was a purple and green baby dragon.
"Twilight, don't you usually leave Spike at home?"
She looked over at the crib. "Well, I felt like I didn't get enough of a chance to see him, so I decided to bring him here. I figured Cadence could take care of him while I was at school, and if she couldn't, then you could."
It was clear Twilight cared a lot about him. I tried to work out in my head about how much this would slow down my progress, even though there hadn't been too much recently. It seemed like I had hit a steep incline after inventing flux-steel, after which any progress I'd made was either undermined by a bigger setback or just ended up creating more problems to solve than when I started. It was the engineer's equivalent of writer's block; I simply didn't have enough ideas.
"Shadow?" I had gone off into one of my thinking tangents again. Snapping out of it, I responded.
"Yeah, I can probably take care of him. Cadence should be back soon, so it'll only be a few days at the most." I considered not explaining the situation with my work, but ultimately decided that it would be pointless for her not to know. "Plus, I haven't been able to come up with a new project to work on, so I won't lose much time anyway."
She tilted her head sideways slightly. "I thought you were working on that one blueprint, the one you drew just before you ran off the other day. What happened?"
I sighed. "Hit a metaphorical wall. I'd either need a new fuel source or a material that attracts magic, instead of just channeling it like Arcanium does."
Twilight seemed to understand. "I'm sure you'll come up with something. After all, what you have built has been amazing! Your hoof, the horn, flux-steel, all things that you created. Sure, I helped some on that last one, but if it wasn't for you, and the things you've done, that never would've happened!" Twilight had a point, but I didn't see the need for an entire mini-lecture. "If I hadn't met you, we wouldn't be standing where we are now. This entire building wouldn't exist if it wasn't for us! If it wasn't for you!"
Twilight could be a pretty great motivational speaker, when she had a reason to be. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Surely something'll come to me."
It was then I remembered the investigation I had planned. "Actually, if we could find enough time to do it, there is something I've been wanting to investigate for a while now. It probably won't lead to any breakthroughs or sudden epiphanies, but it'll still be something interesting to do until I come up with something."
"Alright, what do you have in mind?"
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Twilight agreed to help me investigate magical nodes. We decided to start by locating as many as we could in the Canterlot area. After all, it used to be an ancient unicorn city, and the ancient unicorns wouldn't have gone through the trouble of making a city on the side of a mountain if it didn't have some benefit. More magical nodes in an area meant a magical surplus, which meant complex spells that used a lot of magic left less of an impact on the caster and the surrounding area. Many of the current-day spells of such a nature had been based off of spells created by pre-Unification unicorns, which meant that they definitely could use that extra magic. Long story short, there were likely at least a few magical nodes in Canterlot.
There were far more than we expected. It took us a few weeks to pinpoint the exact location of thirty-four nodes, which covered pretty much all of Canterlot. We would either take Spike with us, or leave him with Twilight's parents. Strangely enough, Cadence did not return, although Princess Celestia had sent us a letter explaining that something had come up concerning her, and that she was alright and would simply have to be away for a while, and would return as soon as she could. Although she hadn't been there long, I had started to get used to her company during the short time between the flux poisoning incident and the day she had to leave.
The nodes were at seemingly random places. Some were in public places, and there were one or two that we had to ask to enter somepony's house to find them, but most of them were in or around the Palace, which wasn't incredibly surprising considering it took up a third of the city. What was surprising was the sheer number of nodes inside the castle. Out of the thirty-four total nodes, twenty-five of them had been inside the castle, with another one outside in the gardens. Why were there so many around there, I wondered, reviewing the map we had made.
It didn't take long before I came up with a theory. Most of the nodes are in the castle, but of the ones there, over half of them are closer to the mountain than the outer facing walls.
"Maybe it has something to do with the mountain?" Twilight had apparently reached the same conclusion.
I thought a bit deeper. Most of the nodes outside of the castle were in places that could be considered 'historic sites,' for example the park near the library, which was supposedly unchanged since even before the Unification. Which meant, if the nodes were originating from somewhere in the mountain, it would have to be someplace especially historic.
The only problem was, it was a mountain. Anything built much higher than Canterlot would be subject to brutal weather conditions and temperature. The steep cliff faces below Canterlot weren't a viable option, either. Canterlot had been essentially nestled on a relatively shallow incline, at just the perfect elevation.
That was when it metaphorically hit me. If somepony built intothe mountain, it would be protected from the climate of the higher elevations. And I had accidentally discovered one such structurea few weeks before.
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When we explained our suspicions to Celestia, she agreed to let us go, as long as we dressed warm and she went with us. The climb was much easier than before, seeing as Celestia flew up and dropped a climbing rope down just before we started climbing. Not to mention having actual climbing gear.
Soon, we were standing at the entrance to the ancient ruin. It was just as I remembered it; weathered but still structurally sound stone pillars, vines covering strange markings on the walls, but in the center, I saw a feature I hadn't noticed before. It was a circular carving on the ground, with several symbols lining the edge.The inside of the circle was split into four sections, each with its own pedestal. The pedestals had triangular-shaped holes in them, that reminded me of the first vision I had at the park. Each pedestal also had a colored symbol on it; a red axe, a green heart, a yellow compass, and a blue four-pointed star. What is it with magic and stars? The center of the circle had a smaller circle in it, but apart from that it was blank.
I looked at Twilight, who nodded back at me. I took the rod in one hoof, the fork in the other, and struck the two together.
It didn't even shake. There was a node there, for sure. That led me to construct another theory. Could the node have aided in my survival when I ran away to here? Was that how I was healed of flux poisoning? I might want to keep that in mind in the future. I started to pace, as I usually did when I was thinking. While doing so, I stepped across the edge of the circle.
There was a loud noise, and Celestia backed away from the circle. It was glowing, the symbols around the edges rotating clockwise. The floor in the center slowly slid back, and an old stone lectern with a book on it rose up from the resulting hole.
For a moment, nopony moved.
The book was red, with a strange symbol on the front. The bottom half was a triangle, pointing downwards, with a red diamond shape in the middle. The top half resembled an Alicorn, its head pointed to the left. The wings had streaks of red on them, the same color as the diamond, as well as the eyes. I felt like I had seen the symbol before. There was no title on the cover, nor author, just the strange symbol. I removed it from the lectern, getting a closer look. It looked like it was brand new, which either meant it had been put there recently or it had an extremely powerful preservation spell on it. "Do wither of you know what this book is?" I asked, hoping that maybe one of them knew something, anything that would shed light on what just happened.
It was Celestia who spoke first. "The symbol on the cover is the emblem of the old Alicorn order. This book is likely their work."
"I thought you and Cadence were the only two Alicorns in existence?" Twilight said. I agreed with her; if there was another Princess, everypony would know her.
Celestia looked away, almost as if she was reliving a bad memory. "The Alicorns were once a mighty nation, residing in what is now Equestria long before the Unification. One day, they disappeared without a trace. I used to live among them, when I was much younger, although it has been so long, I have forgotten much about their ways. The book is unfamiliar to me, and I doubt Cadence will know any more than me, seeing as she never lived among them. This book might be a subject on which you are on your own, Midnight Shadow, if you wish to pursue it."
I opened the book, looking at the contents. It was written in a strange language, but I recognized it as the same language as the carvings on the wall and circle. It was unreadable. I closed it again, looking at the cover. That was when I realized why the symbol seemed familiar.
I set the book down on the red pedestal, and sure enough, the symbol matched the hole perfectly. "It must have something to do with this. Maybe if we could translate it, we'd find out more about this ruin. Celestia, do you know how to read this language?"
Celestia looked at the open book, thinking. "I am afraid not. However, it may be possible to translate it using a Decode rune."
I was confused. "What's a 'Decode rune?'"
Twilight replied that time. "A rune is a tiny symbol drawn on an object, which gives it certain magical properties. For example, a Tracking rune can be used to help find an object, even if it's really far away. And in the case of the Decode rune, it's usually used for coded messages and things like that, but it could still work on the book!"
I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't heard of runes before. After all, my magical knowledge was limited to basic spells, seeing as I only had a reason to study them after I invented the horn.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get back down there and use a Decode rune on this thing! Who knows what secrets it may hold?"
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Since Decode was one of the more complex runes, and since this particular one had to be just right in order to have any effect, Celestia decided she would create it herself. We decided to draw it on the back cover, the blank, rigid surface being perfect for engraving a rune.
When it was finished, I couldn't help but be amazed at its complexity. It took up almost all of the cover, and the lines that made up the symbol were so close together, I could barely tell they were separate. There were several lines, each going in different directions on the cover, each one supposedly playing a part in the whole. At the bottom left corner, there was a somewhat larger and simpler rune etched into the surface.
"What's that for?" I asked the Princess, curious as to why it was so different from the rest.
"A basic rune, intended to activate the more complex parts by drawing in magic and sending it through the rune. It's called Activate."
Celestia's words practically hit me in the face, as I was struck with a sudden burst of inspiration. I almost regretted not studying magic more deeply, as doing so would surely have led me to the same discovery.
But that was for later. Celestia had finished the rune, and it was time to see if it worked.
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It worked.
The book was fully translated into modern Ponish. Even Celestia was surprised by this, as she had expected the book to have a protection spell on it to prevent it being affected by magic like that. Nevertheless, the rune worked as intended. I read the first page aloud.
"Alicorns are now the only race to successfully discover a (somewhat) reliable method of predicting the future. These 'prophecies' are very vague, however many Alicorn scholars believe they can help us better prepare for the future. The first successful prophecy was written by the King himself, and goes as follows:
Four amulets will be the keys;
One to heal the wounds of the present,
One to find the treasures of the past,
One to control the magic of the future,
And one that can defeat any foe.
Four bearers will bring them to the gate;
The warrior, bearing the Amulet of the Healer,
The historian, bearing the Amulet of the Seeker,
The rogue Alicorn, bearing the Amulet of the Mystic,
And the architect, bearing the Amulet of the Commander.
These keys will restore what is lost,
And the Order will rise from its grave."
I paused for a moment. "Anypony else confused about what that means?"
"The prophecy mentioned a 'gate,' one with four keys. It is quite possible that it rests below the ruin atop the mountain," Celestia suggested.
"I guess that explains the pedestals. But, other than that, we don't know anything."
The three of us sat in silence for a few moments, then Celestia spoke.
"Well, I wish I could offer further insight into its meaning, but I am afraid I have nothing to offer. Plus, I have been away from my royal duties for far too long by this point, and I must return. I wish you luck in figuring it out." With that, she walked out, closing the door behind her.
"Well, I don't know about you, Shadow, but I'm tired." Twilight let out a yawn. "I'm going to bed."
It was getting late, after all. However, there was still something I wanted to do. I got out the blueprint I had been working on before. Redrawing it, I drew the Arcanium spiral in, with a small Activate rune on one end.
I stayed up for a few hours building it. I had plenty of spare supplies lying around, and I always tried to keep some spare Arcanium crystals. The rune was the most difficult part, but I managed to carve the symbol onto the end of the spiral. It was much, much simpler than Muse's design. I yawned.
I can test it in the morning.
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I woke up the next morning, tired as usual. I got out of bed, looking over at the machine on my desk. I remembered that I had planned to test it. The rune could be turned on and off with a simple spell, so it could be activated and deactivated at will. I made a mental note to try and make a switch that would work for non-unicorns.
I slipped the leather strap of my horn over my head, smoothing my mane down until it covered the strap. Only the horn itself was visible, jutting out from my forehead. I flicked the switch, turning it on. Feeling the familiar hum of the Arcanium, I cast the spell.
It worked.
Finally, after all that time, I had figured it out. Muse came up with the idea of an automated motion machine, but I was the one who figured out how to use it. It was rather loud, and for a moment I was worried I would wake Twilight.
That was when I realized she wasn't in the library. I turned the machine off, seeing as it could probably be heard from a few blocks away. I made a mental note to work on sound-proofing.
That was when Twilight walked in. She was levitating a tray of muffins. "Hey, Shadow, just thought I'd... get us... some..." She trailed off when she saw me, and ended up just staring at me from the doorway.
I was confused. I looked at myself, trying to find the cause of her surprise.
It didn't take long.
It was a gray gear, with a white four-pointed star in the middle. Again, what is it with magic and stars? As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it meant.
I figured I'd get my cutie mark in engineering. What I didn't expect was getting it for combining magic and engineering, merging the arcane and the mechanical, creating something entirely new; an entire new field of study to pursue.
I looked at the photo above my bed, the one of my parents and a much younger me. I could only imagine how proud my father would be of me when he heard the news.
And, if my mother were here, she'd be proud of me too.
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